Helen caught Evelyn’s eyes in hers. “You already have,” Helen assured her. “You were one of us the second you went back to help Cadell against all of those Tainteds at the university. What you did at the church and Blackwell’s house just confirmed that. Everyone likes you, even Christian.” An impish smile formed on her lips. “Hell, I like you, even though you have Cadell firmly on your hook.”
Evelyn looked down briefly. “I didn’t mean to hook him,” she explained. “We barely know each other. If it’s any consolation, he’s got me hooked, too. Maybe it’s all the shit we’ve been through together the last day or two, but I think I know him pretty well. I didn’t mean to come between you and Cadell, though.”
“I know that,” Helen said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “To tell the truth, my jealousy still gets the better of me sometimes, even though I’ve known for a long time that I’d never be anything to Cadell but his little sister. I came to live here when I was six years old and Cadell was twelve. I’d always wanted a big brother and I got seven of them. But Cadell was the one who would always take time to spend with me. I can’t tell you how many imaginary tea parties he had with me, or how many stories he read to me.
He’d even play with me when I broke out my Barbie dolls.” Evelyn smiled. “He sounds like one hell of big brother,’ she said.
“He’s the best,” Helen agreed. “He understood that I was pretty much alone here. All of the Selkirks have been very kind to me and I love them all, but Cadell always, always had time for me.”
“Why did you come to live here?” Evelyn asked. “At first, because I was apprenticed to Astrid to learn spellcraft,” Helen replied. “I’d lived here for about a year when my parents were killed. They were both active members of the Hidden and were killed fighting a Nephilim who had taken over a village in Nigeria. The Selkirks adopted me legally and in the eyes of God and his angels. My legal name is Helen Abrami-Selkirk.”
“I thought the Hidden just provided information and support to the Blessed,” Evelyn said.
“That’s true for most of the Hidden cells,” Helen explained. “But some of the older Families in the Hidden actively fight the Grigori and the Nephilim. The Abrami were one of the Hidden’s founding families. My father was one of the ‘Sons of Uriah,’ a group of Catholics dedicated to fighting demonic influence within the Vatican. One of his ancestors, Alard Abrami, was supposedly a Jesuit bishop who left the Church and founded the Sons of Uriah after finding out that Pope Innocent the Third was a Nephilim. He and a few others formed the core of the Hidden. The legends say that Alard took up the sword to defend the Cathar sect of Gnostic Christians when Innocent branded them heretics and ordered the whole sect wiped out in the Albigensian Crusade of 1209. That’s when he met Caleb Selkirk, who had been sent by the Blessed to protect the Cathars from the Tainteds among the crusader army. That’s when the partnership between the Blessed and the Hidden is supposed to have started.”
“A direct descendant of the founder of the Hidden,” Evelyn observed. “That’s quite a pedigree.”
“Not as illustrious as my mother’s,” Helen replied, shrugging her shoulders. “If you believe the family legends, her bloodline includes Joan of Arc.”
Evelyn cocked her head. “I thought she was burned at the stake and died childless and young. I’ve never heard about her having any children.”
“That’s what history recorded,” Helen confirmed. “But she was actually rescued by the Hidden and became a member. The story behind all of that would take a few glasses of wine to tell.”
“Wow,” Evelyn said. “From what I’ve been told, the heads of the other Blessed families must have been really hoping for you to hook up with one of the Selkirk boys.”
Helen laughed. “I’m sure they were, but it’s not going to happen. As far as Cadell and the guys are concerned, I’ll always be their little sister. I wish it could be different with Cadell, but I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of brothers or surrogate parents. I’ve had a good life, all things considered.”
“Have you ever just told Cadell how you really feel about him?” Evelyn asked.
Helen shook her head and chuckled. “No. I think he knows, deep down, that I’ve been crushing on him. He just pretends not to know and hopes I’ll just get over him. I’m like a sister to him and that’s not going to change, at least from his side. Confronting him about how I feel would just make things awkward between us.”
Evelyn smiled. “That’s a pretty selfless attitude. Most people wouldn’t have the self-control to put feelings that strong aside.”
“I’m part of a Blessed family,” Helen said. “I can’t have Cadell going into battle while worrying about my hurt feelings. Telling him how I feel wouldn’t really change anything, and the distraction could get him and his brothers killed. I won’t make what the Blessed do even more dangerous than it already is.”
Evelyn caught Helen’s gaze with hers. “I really like Cadell,” she said. “I hope it won’t make things even harder for you if we start seeing each other.”
Helen shrugged. “It’ll suck,” she admitted, “but I hope you two keep hitting it off. Being around you makes him happy. Even with all the shit we have going on right now, being around you pleases him, I can tell. I won’t get in the way of his happiness.”
Evelyn smiled softly “You really love him. I feel like I should be apologizing.”
“No,” Helen said. “I think you’ll be really good for him. I think that God means for the two of you to be together,” she added, rising from the sofa. “I almost wish that I didn’t like you, though. I wouldn’t have to be so magnanimous and self-sacrificing if you were a bitch,” she added with chuckle and a smile that reached her eyes.
Evelyn laughed out loud, slapping the arm of her chair. “Well, if you want me to be a bitch, I can totally do bitch.” Helen laughed too.
“How long are we going to wait?” Christian asked, stomping his feet and clapping his hands together to combat the cold.
“As long as it takes,” Cai replied through the half open car window. “Blackwell will be here soon. He doesn’t need a mage to cast the locator spell now. Everyone in the Boston area who’s even a little psychically or magically sensitive felt it when mom cast it.” He tilted his head towards Isles’ house which still glowed with the residue of its spell-shattered wards. “It was like setting off a magical bomb in the middle of the city. Blackwell knows where the
ring is and he’ll come for it.”
“I wish he’d hurry the fuck up,” Christian said
“Why don’t you get in here where it’s warm?” Cai asked.
Christian shot back and annoyed look. “We’ve been sitting too long,” he replied. “If there’s going to be a fight, let’s get on with it.”
“Be patient,” Cai advised. “Things will happen when they happen.”
“You know,” Christian said, smiling at his eldest brother. “Your patience has always annoyed the hell out of me.”
Cai smiled back. “You’re just jealous because you lack my grace and wisdom.”
Christian breathed into his cupped hands to warm them “We could just go in there, kill Isles and take the ring.”
“Dad always said never to antagonize Isles,” Cai retorted.
“Dad’s not here,” Christian countered. “We’re dealing with some big stakes here. Maybe it would be worth taking Isles out to make sure that Blackwell or some other Grigori or Nephilim doesn’t get hold of the ring.” “Isles isn’t a demon,” Cai replied. “He may not be a good guy, but he’s never gone out of his way to hurt anyone. He just collects his power items and does his experimenting, and he’s usually pretty harmless. But he’s powerful. Even if we did take the ring from Isles by force, we might be too torn up after that fight to keep Blackwell from taking the ring away from us. So, when Blackwell comes for the ring, we let Isles and his guards keep Blackwell occupied and we go after the ring ourselves. If Isles is pissed about that, we’ll deal with him later.”
>
“That’s another thing about you that’s always annoyed me,” Christian said getting back into the car.
“What’s that?” Cai asked, chuckling.
“Your knack for clear, logical thinking,” Christian answered, nudging Cai in his shoulder with an elbow.
“Do you think Isles knows we’re out here?” Christian asked, holding his hands near the vent of the car’s heater.
“He’s probably counting on it,” Cai affirmed. “He pretty much told Cadell that he was counting on us having to protect him from Blackwell.”
“Then let’s go in and wait for Blackwell in his nice, warm house,” Christian proposed.
Cai shook his head and chuckled. “I was hoping to let Isles and his guards keep Blackwell and his Tainteds busy while we grab the ring.” He took at his phone out a pocket. “Which reminds me; I need to have grandpa wake up mom and Helen. They needed to recover from casting that spell, but we’ll need at least one of them to guide us to the exact location of the ring.”
“Helen was already awake,” Cai said after completing his call. “She says that she can help us find the ring, so I told her to let mom sleep.”
“Mom will be pissed when she wakes up,” Christian said. “She’d want to be awake to help us.”
“She can be pissed,” Cai replied. “Mom’s one of the most powerful mages on the planet, but she’s not getting any younger, and casting the really major spells takes more and more out of her. If Helen says she can take on some of mom’s load, I say we let her.”
Christian grinned and tilted his head. “You can tell mom that she’s gotten old and weak when we get home,” he said. “Just let me watch when she slaps the shit out of you.”
Cai laughed and was about to reply when six SUVs rolled up the Isles house and surrounded it. Each of the vehicles was equipped with a bank of roof-mounted mounted flashing red and blue lights and marked with the letters FBI on their doors. Six armored men equipped with
M-4 rifles emerged from each vehicle. One squad of six approached the front door while the others formed a ring
around it. “Shit, the fucking FBI is raiding Isles.”
“You think Blackwell used his political connections to sick the feds on Isles?” Christian asked, fidgeting in his seat.
“It could be,” Cai replied. “But he hasn’t been in a hurry to involve human authorities so far.”
“Will Isles put up a fight?” Christian wondered. “I don’t think he’ll want to kill a bunch of federal agents in public.” Cai replied. “He has connections of his own. Hopefully he’ll try to use them to get the feds called off.”
“Cai,” Clive’s voice said over a portable radio.
“What’s our play? The FBI has a team getting set to breach the back door.”
“Stay put,” Cai replied. “If Isles tries to hurt the feds, we’ll have to protect them. If not, I don’t want the
FBI knowing we’re here.” He turned to Christian. “See if you can get ears on them,” he ordered.
Christian retrieved a device that resembled a small satellite dish attached to the end of a large pistol grip-like handle and got out of the car. He pointed the parabolic microphone at the house’s front door just as Isles opened it and confronted the FBI entry team. “They’re showing Isles a warrant that allows them to search his house for illegally acquired antiquities,” he reported. “Isles is letting them in but calling his lawyer.”
“Isles will have the ring hidden, but mom’s spell blasted through any wards he had around it.” Cai said. “I don’t know who sent the feds, but there’s no way that they just happened to show up tonight. They’ll have a mage with them to find the ring.”
Cai’s radio spoke again. “Cai, we have a limo coming in from the west. It doesn’t look like a FBI car,” Cadell reported.
Cai and Christian watched the limousine park near the leading FBI vehicles. The limo driver got out of the car and opened the back seat passenger door. Two men left the limo and flanked the door before it disgorged a short man with thinning gray hair wearing a long black leather coat and the clerical shirt and collar marking him as a member of the clergy. All four of the limo’s occupants glowed with pulsating lavender and orange auras. The two men who had been in the back seat with the clergyman moved toward the house while the driver remained with the limo.
“That’s Carlo D’Errico,” Cai almost spat.
“The bishop that’s in charge of the Unseen,”
Christian said, finishing Cai’s thought. “The Vatican would have the clout to get the FBI to do their dirty work.”
Cai struck the steering wheel with a closed fist. “They’re going to get the ring. D’Errico knows that the Blessed won’t pick a fight with the FBI. The feds will give the Unseen the ring and there’s no telling what they’ll do with it.”
“But if Blackwell has Solomon’s vessel and the Unseen has the ring, then neither one will be able to open the vessel,” Christian observed, hopefully.
“Right,” Cai confirmed. “But the Unseen can still use the ring to control the demons already loose in the world. They could use it to make demons go after every other religion that they consider heretical.”
Christian let out a long breath. “Which is every faith but Catholicism,” he concluded.
Cai nodded. “Right again,” he confirmed. “Think about it: the only reason that the demons haven’t destroyed civilization already is that the Grigori and the Nephilim don’t work together very often and, when they do, they don’t do it for long. They all have their personal armies of Tainteds, but the higher-level demons spend as much time competing with one another as they do messing with humanity. Imagine what the Vatican, the institution that gave us the Crusades and the Inquisition, could do with the power over God knows how many higher demons backing their religious and political agenda.”
Christian nodded. “They’ll use the demons to make the world hell, then they’ll use the ring to save the day and everyone will be convinced that the only religion that’s worth anything is Catholicism.”
“Right. They’d be able to claim that they’re the sole source of deliverance and redemption.” Cai said. “The Unseen aren’t waiting for the Biblical prophecies to happen; they want to bring about the Apocalypse on their own timetable. They’re engineering Armageddon.” “What are we going to do?” Cai asked.
“Go home and figure out what our next move is going to be. Let the feds have the ring for now. D’Errico has probably arranged for it to be turned over to him. If we have to take it from the Unseen, we’ll need a plan.” Christian cast a hard gaze at his brother. “We’ve never really tangled with the Unseen before, except for the church in Woburn, and that was an accident. If we take the ring away from them by force, we’ll be declaring war on the Unseen. And it won’t just be our family the Unseen goes to war with; it will be all the Blessed.”
“I know,” Cai agreed, starting the car. “That’s why we’ll need a plan. If we go to war with the Unseen, I want
to strike first and make that first strike devastating.”
“D’Errico is here in Boston?” Astrid asked Cai from her seat on one of the living room sofas. “I don’t think he’s left the Vatican’s grounds in more than thirty years.” “It was him. His being here is the only reason I woke you up early,” Cai said. “Dad made everyone memorize the photos of every high-ranking member of the Unseen. Besides, his aura was bright, powerful.”
“Hang on a second,” Evelyn said. “I’m playing informational catch-up here, so let me get all of this straight. This Isles guy had the ring and wouldn’t give it up unless Cadell gave him some of his blood. You guys decide to wait for Blackwell to show up to take the ring from Isles and grab it for yourselves while Blackwell and Isles fight each other. But Blackwell never shows and the FBI confiscates all of Isles’ ancient nick-knacks, including the ring.” She paused for breath. “Have I got it all right so far?” “Well, we don’t know what else they got, but only the ring matters here. So yep,” C
allum replied. “That’s pretty much it.”
Evelyn continued. “And now the FBI is going to give the ring to this D’Errico character, who’s a Catholic bishop, no less. You’re afraid he’ll use it to form an army of demons and use that army to start the Apocalypse according to his timetable, and when things get so bad that no one can stand it anymore, he uses the ring to call off the demons so that everyone converts to Catholicism and the Vatican can more or less take over the world. Right?”
“By George,” Christian remarked. “I think she’s got it.”
“It’s like if you created a highly contagious deadly disease and the cure to go with it. You turn the disease loose and wait until you have a global pandemic,” Clive explained, pacing in front of the fireplace despite his need for crutches. “When people are desperate enough, you offer them the cure in exchange for their obedience and loyalty,” he added. “It’s the Hegelian Dialectic: problem, reaction, solution. Create the problem, manipulate the adverse reaction to the problem, then offer a solution that serves your agenda.”
“But why didn’t Isles put up a fight?” Evelyn asked. “I thought he was supposed to be a bad-ass wizard.” “He is,” Eve answered from her seat next Astrid. “But so is Carlo D’Errico. Isles knew that fighting D’Errico would turn into a battle that could not easily be hidden from the ‘normal’ world, especially not with a dozen FBI agents around.”
“Besides,” Cai added. “Open violence isn’t Isles’ style. As far as I know, he’s never harmed a human, and he’s only fought demons or rival mages when he had absolutely no other choice. My guess is he’s going to use his own political contacts to try to get his collection back. If that fails, he might resort to force, but even if he does, he’ll hire someone else to do his fighting.”
“Or manipulate someone into fighting for him,”
Astrid added. “He did it to your father more than once.”
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